Impassioned, an analysis of a cultural event
First, a little history
Fangirls has entered the vocabulary of many this year, and its history really doesn’t go much farther than that. Fanboys, however, has been a much familiar term. If I had been morn male that’s what I would’ve been called. Instead I grew up a geek because there was no word for me. It wasn’t until highschool when I met a few more of my kind did I realize I wasn’t alone. Not to mention, it was the time of Pirates, Johnny Depp, and Orlando Bloom - fangirliness was coming out of the shadows in droves. I had found my name.
The fact of the matter
Fanboys have been around since 1977, and we all know there has been fanboys before that time as well. As the female sex has ridden the coattails of the men for years, with Star Wars and the like, we finally have something of our own. I stumbled across this on MovieFone yesterday:
“Z is for Zzzz...
The sound of Internet fanboys make when ‘Twilight’ is brought up. Yes, it’s unfair, as fan girls don’t jeer at their obsessions with ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Batman,’ but the minute the gals finally get a franchise of their own, it becomes the mockery of Comic-Con and the Internet.”
Why must you get so offended fanboys? Us girls finally have something of our own. Yes, it is something you will never understand. It is something ingrained in our subconscious. Stephenie Meyer has created something that just gets us deep down in our souls. You may never get it, but let us enjoy something of our own for once. If you don’t like it, just let it go. You don’t have to live or understand everything, but if you haven’t at least read every word of Twilight you have no ground to stand on to diss it. If you have read all of that, then by all means you can criticize it all you want. But there is absolutely no reason to call Edward “gay” just because you are sick of being in Bella’s mind since she’s all gaga over Edward and you happen to like women. You can keep Princess Leia, but we’re taking Edward and running. The fangirls can at least concede the attraction of the fantasy of Princess Leis in the golden bikini. Can you at least let us enjoy our sparkly vampires without name calling?
HATE HATE HATE
I have never seen so much hate on the Web as there is for Twilight. I understand that all your flair and bumper stickers on facebook have been taken over by Twilight, but let’s just face it - it’s a cultural event that won’t be here for long. So just SUCK IT UP and deal with it. I know it’s annoying not seeing as many Jonas Brothers or Chuck Norris flair as you used to, but it seems there is as much anti-Twilight/Edward as there is Twilight. Right now we are in a cultural trend. The final book was released and the long awaited film came out. For the next 3 months or so, twilight will be The Thing. When it gets less show times in theaters and eventually fades out, there will be something there to take its place. (My hope is there will be a BSG revival.) Then it will be Harry Potter’s turn again. Then Twilight will be on DVD in which a few more extra Twilight fangirling moments may happen, but it will soon all fade out. Whenever “Midnight Sun” finally makes its debut, watch out! Us fangirls will be back in action doing our fangirl thing.
With that said...
For those who compare book!Edward to movie!Edward just stop. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Are you ready? Okay. Your imagination!Edward is a billion times better than any real person could embody for you. Here’s how it goes: Literature and Cinema speak in two totally different languages. With novels, there is so much more that can be said and felt. Our feelings are those of the characters we see the story through. This is one of the main reasons that as one reads the reader falls in love with Edward right along with Bella. We see Edward through her eyes and he is perfect. Cinema is a language of images and dialogue. We can only know as much of the character and their feelings as they tell us in their words and actions. We can’t get inside their minds - except through voice-over. I know what your arguments are going to be, so let me just get down to it.
Edward was so awkward. In the books he was so smooth. What happened?
If you hadn’t talked to a girl outside of your family in 107 years you’d be a little awkward too! Think about it - Edward said everything smoothly in your mind because that is how you see him; as someone extremely charming and smooth. But I have never met a 17 year old boy that was charming and smooth. Have you? Plus, Robert Pattinson was given a manuscript of Midnight Sun. He has a little bit more insight into Edward than we do. All that added into his performance.
What happened to Jasper? He never blinked!
With a two hour film in which there was a very low budget for a film as big as it was, you have to cut some stuff. The expositions about the other Cullens got cut out. Tough luck. Go reread about them in the books. BTW - Jasper did blink I watched for it specifically.
The film is really unbelievable
Let’s start with the numbers. $7 million in midnight shows alone. Almost $36 million the first day. And by the end of the weekend, just under $70 million. Currently it is at over $121 million in 11 days. It was the highest weekend debut for a woman director EVER! If I estimated right, about 25% of the above the line positions (director, producer, writer, editor, stars) were held by women! I don’t know people really grasp at how amazing that is. Of the top 250 grossing films of 2006, women only held 7% of the ATL spots. 22% of those films didn’t hire any women in those positions. For a film to have nearly 25% of it’s ATL positions to be women is unbelievable. Not to mention the sequel was announced the day after opening. It astounds me. It gives me hope.
And finally
If you have read all the way to this point, you must be wondering what my opinion on the film was. For a $37 million budge film, it was pretty damn good. Even though I don’t compare the books to the film, I have to say that it did a really good job of staying true to the story. This film is no award winner, but it still is entertaining. The performances by Kristen and Rob were decent, but there is still room to improve. I did miss seeing more of the other Cullens, but it is understandable why they weren’t there. The scenes that did include the family were very well done. I found the comedy and the drama to be appropriate. There wasn’t anything added that detracted from the story. The effects will definitely get a boost in the next film since its basically guaranteed there will be more money involved. The action was good. The supporting cast has potential. I look forward to seeing more of Ashley Greene in the next film. Billy Burke as Charlie was perfect. I enjoyed it and can’t wait to see the film again.
If you’ve reached this point and still disagree with me bout it not being as good as the book, let me ask you something: Did you enjoy the movie as a movie itself?
Yeah... That’s what I thought.
Fangirls has entered the vocabulary of many this year, and its history really doesn’t go much farther than that. Fanboys, however, has been a much familiar term. If I had been morn male that’s what I would’ve been called. Instead I grew up a geek because there was no word for me. It wasn’t until highschool when I met a few more of my kind did I realize I wasn’t alone. Not to mention, it was the time of Pirates, Johnny Depp, and Orlando Bloom - fangirliness was coming out of the shadows in droves. I had found my name.
The fact of the matter
Fanboys have been around since 1977, and we all know there has been fanboys before that time as well. As the female sex has ridden the coattails of the men for years, with Star Wars and the like, we finally have something of our own. I stumbled across this on MovieFone yesterday:
“Z is for Zzzz...
The sound of Internet fanboys make when ‘Twilight’ is brought up. Yes, it’s unfair, as fan girls don’t jeer at their obsessions with ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Batman,’ but the minute the gals finally get a franchise of their own, it becomes the mockery of Comic-Con and the Internet.”
Why must you get so offended fanboys? Us girls finally have something of our own. Yes, it is something you will never understand. It is something ingrained in our subconscious. Stephenie Meyer has created something that just gets us deep down in our souls. You may never get it, but let us enjoy something of our own for once. If you don’t like it, just let it go. You don’t have to live or understand everything, but if you haven’t at least read every word of Twilight you have no ground to stand on to diss it. If you have read all of that, then by all means you can criticize it all you want. But there is absolutely no reason to call Edward “gay” just because you are sick of being in Bella’s mind since she’s all gaga over Edward and you happen to like women. You can keep Princess Leia, but we’re taking Edward and running. The fangirls can at least concede the attraction of the fantasy of Princess Leis in the golden bikini. Can you at least let us enjoy our sparkly vampires without name calling?
HATE HATE HATE
I have never seen so much hate on the Web as there is for Twilight. I understand that all your flair and bumper stickers on facebook have been taken over by Twilight, but let’s just face it - it’s a cultural event that won’t be here for long. So just SUCK IT UP and deal with it. I know it’s annoying not seeing as many Jonas Brothers or Chuck Norris flair as you used to, but it seems there is as much anti-Twilight/Edward as there is Twilight. Right now we are in a cultural trend. The final book was released and the long awaited film came out. For the next 3 months or so, twilight will be The Thing. When it gets less show times in theaters and eventually fades out, there will be something there to take its place. (My hope is there will be a BSG revival.) Then it will be Harry Potter’s turn again. Then Twilight will be on DVD in which a few more extra Twilight fangirling moments may happen, but it will soon all fade out. Whenever “Midnight Sun” finally makes its debut, watch out! Us fangirls will be back in action doing our fangirl thing.
With that said...
For those who compare book!Edward to movie!Edward just stop. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Are you ready? Okay. Your imagination!Edward is a billion times better than any real person could embody for you. Here’s how it goes: Literature and Cinema speak in two totally different languages. With novels, there is so much more that can be said and felt. Our feelings are those of the characters we see the story through. This is one of the main reasons that as one reads the reader falls in love with Edward right along with Bella. We see Edward through her eyes and he is perfect. Cinema is a language of images and dialogue. We can only know as much of the character and their feelings as they tell us in their words and actions. We can’t get inside their minds - except through voice-over. I know what your arguments are going to be, so let me just get down to it.
Edward was so awkward. In the books he was so smooth. What happened?
If you hadn’t talked to a girl outside of your family in 107 years you’d be a little awkward too! Think about it - Edward said everything smoothly in your mind because that is how you see him; as someone extremely charming and smooth. But I have never met a 17 year old boy that was charming and smooth. Have you? Plus, Robert Pattinson was given a manuscript of Midnight Sun. He has a little bit more insight into Edward than we do. All that added into his performance.
What happened to Jasper? He never blinked!
With a two hour film in which there was a very low budget for a film as big as it was, you have to cut some stuff. The expositions about the other Cullens got cut out. Tough luck. Go reread about them in the books. BTW - Jasper did blink I watched for it specifically.
The film is really unbelievable
Let’s start with the numbers. $7 million in midnight shows alone. Almost $36 million the first day. And by the end of the weekend, just under $70 million. Currently it is at over $121 million in 11 days. It was the highest weekend debut for a woman director EVER! If I estimated right, about 25% of the above the line positions (director, producer, writer, editor, stars) were held by women! I don’t know people really grasp at how amazing that is. Of the top 250 grossing films of 2006, women only held 7% of the ATL spots. 22% of those films didn’t hire any women in those positions. For a film to have nearly 25% of it’s ATL positions to be women is unbelievable. Not to mention the sequel was announced the day after opening. It astounds me. It gives me hope.
And finally
If you have read all the way to this point, you must be wondering what my opinion on the film was. For a $37 million budge film, it was pretty damn good. Even though I don’t compare the books to the film, I have to say that it did a really good job of staying true to the story. This film is no award winner, but it still is entertaining. The performances by Kristen and Rob were decent, but there is still room to improve. I did miss seeing more of the other Cullens, but it is understandable why they weren’t there. The scenes that did include the family were very well done. I found the comedy and the drama to be appropriate. There wasn’t anything added that detracted from the story. The effects will definitely get a boost in the next film since its basically guaranteed there will be more money involved. The action was good. The supporting cast has potential. I look forward to seeing more of Ashley Greene in the next film. Billy Burke as Charlie was perfect. I enjoyed it and can’t wait to see the film again.
If you’ve reached this point and still disagree with me bout it not being as good as the book, let me ask you something: Did you enjoy the movie as a movie itself?
Yeah... That’s what I thought.